Abstract Groupers (Epinephelidae and Serranidae) have attracted special attention to fish farming, and their species offer good opportunities for successful hybridizations. Cytogenetic data allow a better understanding of the role of karyotypic diversification in the acquisition of post-zygotic reproductive isolation (RI). Thus, chromosomal analyses were performed on E. striatus (Caribbean Sea), E. coioides and E. tauvina (Indo-Pacific Region), using standard procedures and mapping of six repetitive DNA classes by the in situ hybridization. The three species have 2n=48 chromosomes. The karyotypes of E. coioides and E. striatus are composed only of acrocentric chromosomes (FN=48), while E. tauvina has 8 submetacentric chromosomes (FN=56). Heterochromatin has a preferential centromeric distribution, and the microsatellite repeats are dispersed throughout the chromosomes of all species. The 18S and 5S rDNA sites are unique but show a colocalization arrangement in E. tauvina and E. striatus. The chromosomal organization suggests that the three species still maintain a significant amount of syntenic regions. The range of the karyotype divergence and the RI levels showed low, but goes turn proportionally greater in relation to the divergence time between the parental species. The slow acquisition of postzygotic RI is consistent with the high karyotype homogeneity presented by Epinephelidae family. Serranidae farming hybridizations post zygotic RI. . (RI) Thus E Caribbean Sea, Sea , Sea) IndoPacific Indo Pacific Region, Region Region) hybridization 2n48 n 2n 48 2n=4 FN=48, FN48 FN FN=48 (FN=48) FN=56. FN56 FN=56 56 (FN=56) distribution S regions low family (RI 2n4 4 2n= FN4 FN=4 (FN=48 FN5 FN=5 5 (FN=56 FN= (FN=4 (FN=5 (FN= (FN

Mecanismos de acúmulo baseados em deriva centromérica típica ou de cromossomos portadores de inversões pericêntricas mostram-se adequados à diferenciação cariotípica mais ampla nas principais ordens de Actinopterygii. Aqui nós mostramos que a deriva meiótica nos peixes é também apoiada pela fixação preferencial de sistemas de cromossomos sexuais e cromossomos B em ordens com cariótipos predominantemente formados por elementos bi-braquiais. O mosaico de tendências cromossômicas que atuam em nível infra-familiar em peixes poderia ser explicado pela interação do processo direcional de deriva meiótica agindo como pano de fundo, modulada em menor escala por fatores adaptativos ou propriedades cariotípicas específicas de cada grupo, conforme proposto pelo modelo de ortoseleção.

Mechanisms of accumulation based on typical centromeric drive or of chromosomes carrying pericentric inversions are adjusted to the general karyotype differentiation in the principal Actinopterygii orders. Here, we show that meiotic drive in fish is also supported by preferential establishment of sex chromosome systems and B chromosomes in orders with predominantly bi-brachial chromosomes. The mosaic of trends acting at an infra-familiar level in fish could be explained as the interaction of the directional process of meiotic drive as background, modulated on a smaller scale by adaptive factors or specific karyotypic properties of each group, as proposed for the orthoselection model.

Chromosomal studies were carried out on a population of the fish Hoplerythrinus unitaeniatus (jeju) from Prata river in the São Francisco river basin, Minas Gerais, Brazil using conventional Giemsa staining, C-banding, silver nitrate nucleolar organizer region (Ag-NOR) staining and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with 18S and 5S rDNA probes. We found a high degree of inter- and intra-individual variability with the identification of 2n = 50, 2n = 51 and 2n = 52 karyotypes at nearly the same frequency within the population. Intra-individual variation in chromosomal morphology and, consequently, karyotype formulae was also observed, chiefly in the specimens with 2n = 50 and 2n = 52 chromosomes. Ag-NORs and 18S rDNA sites also showed numerical and chromosomal variation similar to that found for the 5S rDNA sites. Some putative hypotheses are considered in order to explain these results.